The former chief executive of a small district council received a total pay and pension package of almost £570,000 last year - four times the Prime Minister's £142,500 salary - it has emerged.

Philip Dolan was handed £569,000 when he opted for redundancy from South Somerset District Council in March, as part of a restructuring which saw the authority share its chief executive with neighbouring East Devon.

Two other senior executives at the council - the director of health and head of economic vitality - received more than £300,000 each.

The payouts equate to £7 for each of the council's 162,000 residents, though local media reported that part of the cost was paid by East Devon.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the payments made Mr Dolan the best-rewarded public servant in either local or national government last year.

After taking voluntary redundancy at the age of 54, Mr Dolan received his normal salary of £157,000, along with a redundancy payment of £167,000 and £6,000 to cover "lost benefits". The council also agreed to pay an extra £239,000 into his pension scheme to cover payments that would have been made had he continued working until 65.

The leader of South Somerset District Council, Tim Carroll, was among a group of Liberal Democrat local authority leaders who wrote an open letter to Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles, warning that sharply reduced grants from central government would lead to cuts in frontline services.

Commenting on the South Somerset payouts, Local Government minister Bob Neill said: "These are eye-watering sums of money and raise serious questions about the financial credibility of the council. Bumper pay-offs like this are completely unacceptable and show a breathtaking lack of respect for public money."

But in a statement to local media, the council said that its new senior management structure had resulted in "annual actual savings of around £355,000".

Mr Dolan denied he had received special treatment, telling the Telegraph: "The calculation that you would undertake for a street cleaner of the same age as me would be identical. It wouldn't have been the same figure but the calculation is the same. There are no added extras, there are no fat cat golden handshakes."